'Brick by Brick' - by defying hatred you can do good and build great brands

I was delighted to see that Lego have said that they will stop working with the Mail Group of newspapers who for a long time have fueled hatred and division here in Britain. As a reaction to the #StopFundingHate campaign Lego have made a choice not to work with the Daily Mail in the future - no advertising, no marketing and no toy giveaways. Not only is this a great thing to do because it is right to choose who you want to work with and give money to but actually it will do the brand of Lego a great deal of good - it already has in my mind.

As marketers - whether we are entrepreneurs, or work for a profit or non-profit organisation - I believe we can 'do good' and make money. These two are not mutually exclusive and frankly the former should always trump the latter (I feel bad using the word trump here but I refuse for him to take anything else away from me).

As the author Anna Lappé wrote "every time you spend money, you're casting a vote for the kind of world you want to live in'.

Basing your business decisions on doing good will also future-proof your business. Consumers care more and more about what the companies they buy from actively support and, more importantly, actively do not support.

I recently read Afdhel Aziz & Bobby Jones' excellent book Good is the new Cool where the subtitle is Market Like You Give a Damn. They reference the Fuse Gen Z Report on Social Activism and Cause Marketing - 'after learning a brand supports a social cause, 85 percent of Gen Z and 70 percent of millennials are likely to purchase from that brand over another brand that does not support that cause.'

Content creation - telling your stories in an authentic and personal voice is key to communicating not just what is great about your products and services but what you stand for - and what you stand against.

#StopFundingHate

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Lego will not run any more promotional giveaways with the Daily Mail, marking the first success for a campaign to stop companies advertising in newspapers that run “divisive hate campaigns”.
The Danish toy company has been giving away free toys with the newspaper, but it told the Stop Funding Hate campaign: “We have finished the agreement with the Daily Mail and are not planning any future promotional activity with the newspaper.”